


Bear Trap

by RoboticPopSauce



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Because sass is good, Cervitaur Bill Cipher, Little bit of blood, M/M, Researcher Dipper, Sass, This is for a contest I did forever ago, Took a LONG time because of a few reasons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-03-14
Packaged: 2018-10-04 19:04:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10286777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoboticPopSauce/pseuds/RoboticPopSauce
Summary: Dipper just wanted to learn more about the forest in Gravity Falls for his journal. When he finds the discovery of a lifetime, he's ecstatic. If only the thing weren't so stubborn.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [echgoing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/echgoing/gifts).



> Gift for Echgoing, who won my followers contest a while ago! And by a while ago, I mean WOW I suck at getting things out in a timely manner. Sorry I've been so dead lately, hopefully I can be more active now though :D
> 
> Here's a fun little one shot ((there won't be more of this even though it has an open end, sorry)) of Bill and Dipper basically just being sassy to each other.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!~

The steady morning breeze carried the scent of the pines over the meadow, the tall grass swaying side to side peacefully with it. Little dandelions dotted the area, most barely long enough to peak over the blades of vibrant green. A few of their seeds seemed to be floating in midair, unaffected by the wind.

Breathing in, Dipper could smell the dew that was slowly drying under the still rising sun. Everything that wasn’t still gray from the night was bathed in bright gold, contrasting the area perfectly for a picture.

Steadying his hold on his expensive Canon, Dipper captured the beautiful scene in front of him. It would be perfect for his field journal, which he would be handing over in just a few weeks.

Researching the forest of Gravity Falls was something he had lucked out on. Being the one with the most experience in the woods had helped win his professor's favor since he wasn’t the only one begging to finish off their degree with a full field journal of the place. He proved his knowledge of it with photographs he and his twin had taken back when they were young preteens out to explore whatever they could.

Though they had found a few really cool things in their time out there, Dipper had yet to experience the true magic that forest held. However, he truly believed that if he looked hard enough, he would find it.

With a few more photos saved onto his SD card, Dipper began his trek further into the trees. He had already been walking for an hour and had even stopped for a snack and water break, but he had yet to get far enough to find anything that he could actually take home and examine.

He sported a blue T-shirt, cargo shorts, and some pretty dorky looking Nikes. With his chest-strap backpack and pine tree hat, he looked like he could be one of those lame dads that would wear socks with sandals. His nerdy outfit aside, Dipper felt ready to spend the entire day searching for whatever made the woods such a mysterious and interesting place.

At some point, while walking and taking more pictures - some just for his own memories - Dipper found himself taking another break. He wasn’t exactly out of shape, but this was his wake-up call to maybe start using a treadmill.

“I gotta stop taking so many breaks,” he huffed to himself. “Though I am up pretty high, the air is a little thinner up here…” He looked around and tried to use his mental map, hoping that he wouldn’t have to pull out his actual map. He’d use his phone, but the service had disappeared a while ago.

While squinting at a tree as if it would somehow help him, Dipper heard a strange metal clanking sound, almost like someone or something was pulling a chain over the dirt. It made him a little nervous, to say the least. He was far enough in the woods that he _should_ be alone, and he doubted a friendly, fuzzy bunny was the one hauling a chain around.

Cautiously, Dipper started walking again. The further he walked the more it felt like he was getting _closer_ to the noise, which was unsettling enough that he decided to take a turn. It wasn’t the path he had planned to take, but getting a lost for a little while sounded better than facing whatever was alone in the forest, dragging chains around. He wanted to find something to study, not get murdered.

The trees grew thicker and the sound started to die down. Dipper wasn’t sure if whatever it was had heard him and was trying to be sneaky, or if he was just getting further away from them. Either way, Dipper found himself freezing and cringing when he stepped on a root and it loudly snapped. If they hadn’t heard him before, they had now.

His fight or flight response - whether it was all in his own head or not - kicked in and Dipper listened to it. Since he couldn’t see anything to fight, he decided to run.

Unfortunately for him, Dipper had the coordination of a fish on land.

After running for less than a minute, he stumbled and landed on his side. Pain shot up his arm and a few pine needles poked at his ribs through his clothes. Scared and hurt, Dipper tried to calm himself down before moving again. The chains had stopped completely and he needed to rationalize things.

He knew he was paranoid enough that maybe he imagined the chains. Being alone just got to him, that’s all. He took in a deep breath and held it for a moment. He was going to stand up, keep walking, and make it home in one pi-

“Are you going to just lie there all day?”

The voice startled Dipper, all of the fears he just chased away coming back in full force. He hastily pushed himself off of the ground, sitting up to look around. “Who said that?”

“Are you blind or just an idiot? By the way you’re staring at that tree, I’m going to go ahead and assume that you’re an idiot.”

Dipper whipped his head around, realizing that the voice was coming from behind him.

There, lying down in a small patch of grass against a rock was something that Dipper couldn’t really process. The top half was a beautiful man with shoulder-length golden hair, pale skin that was covered in little brown freckles, and intense blue eyes that were currently glaring at Dipper. He could look at that part all day.

Unfortunately, though, fluffy ears and large antlers poked out of the hair, and from the waist down, the man had the body of a deer. A large one with long legs and white and blond fur. In the single beam of light that was shining on him from between the branches, he looked ethereal, even though his facial expression screamed annoyance.

“Wh-what?” Dipper stammered.

“Stop gawking at me.” The creature moved its back leg and winced.

The sound of chains being moved made Dipper’s eyes snap to the ground where he finally noticed all the blood seeping into the dirt and grass. A bear trap had snapped around the half animal half man’s ankle.

“Do you… Do you need help?” The brunet wiped his hands on his pants to get the dirt and pine needles. He was so shocked that the pain from before wasn’t even bothering him anymore, and he couldn’t stop himself from slowly inching towards the creature.

“No,” he snapped. “I’m doing just fine on my own. I don’t need some stupid _human’s_ help. You’d probably make things worse.” He crossed his arms and his ears flicked in annoyance. Even though most of his facial features were sharp and handsome, the action came across as cute. Probably because of his little deer nose that was twitching with his ears. “I was doing just fine before you came along.”

Now only a foot or so away from him, Dipper kneeled down and stared at the beast’s foot. He was no doctor, not by a long shot, but he knew enough to know that he needed to get the trap off and to stop the bleeding.

“I can help pry it off of you and bandage the wound. I-I have stuff in my bag.” As he unbuckled his backpack and pulled it off his shoulders, the reality of what was happening finally started to sink in for Dipper.

He just found a freaking _cervitaur._ Sure it kind of seemed like he might be a jerk, but if Dipper could take a picture and put this in his field journal, he could be _famous._ Not like fifteen minutes of fame famous, _history_ famous. He just had to win the creatures favor and get it to trust him.

Not that he was going to do anything heinous to it, but he was sure that he wouldn’t want to just expose himself to the world via someone he didn’t know or trust.

“I said I don’t need any help, I’m fine.” He huffed at Dipper and started to stand, lifting his weight with his front legs.

Dipper skeptically raised a brow and turned his attention when it came time for the thing to use his back legs. He already knew the blond wasn’t going to be able to stand on the injured leg, but if he was going to be stubborn then Dipper was going to let him learn the hard way that he needed help.

“Ah!” The creature yelped but cleared his throat to cover the sound. “S-see? I’m fine.”

“You’re only on three of your legs.” Dipper stopped messing with his bag and gave him an unimpressed look. How the Hell was he supposed to help something so stubborn? Weren’t these things supposed to be pretty and nice? Maybe feed him a riddle or something to unlock the magic of the trees or some other cheesy thing like that?

“I only need three until I can get home. Just watch me.” He used the rock to start pulling himself along, dragging his hurt leg.

Rolling his eyes, Dipper picked his bag back up and walked slowly next to the cervitaur as it pulled itself along using the trees as support.

“How far to your home?” They had made it about ten feet from where he had found the blond and Dipper was starting to wonder if helping this thing really would be worth it. He _really_ didn’t seem to want the help. On the other hand, however, Dipper wanted to be known as the man who showed the world that cervitaurs exist. He’d figure out some way to get this thing to cooperate.

“Pretty far, I don’t think you want to follow me the whole way.” He stopped for a moment and glared at Dipper. “Don’t you have some dumb human thing to go do anyway?”

Dipper shrugged and looked down at the bleeding leg. “Pretty sure a dumb human wouldn’t know how to pull off a bear trap and wrap your leg. And I know how to do that, so I’m not dumb. I’m even about to gradu-”

“Don’t care,” it huffed as it began moving forward again.

He seemed to ignore Dipper’s existence for the next few minutes. Not once did he look at the brunet or even turn his ear towards him when Dipper let out loud sighs or cleared his throat.

A thin trail of blood followed them, the trap and chains making their path pretty obvious to anyone that might be wanting to follow, and the fact that there was a non-rusted bear trap meant that there was a hunter that set it up.

“Y’know, someone might follow you with all that blood. It would be best to take the thing off and get your leg patched up before they come looking for you. They’re probably going to have a gun-”

“Are you threatening me?” He stopped and sized up to Dipper, stopping his front hoof in the dirt. “Don’t _you_ have a gun? Isn’t that something humans bring out here? To shoot us for _fun?_ ”

“N-no!” Dipper held his hands up to show that they were empty. So much for getting the thing to trust him. “I really actually just want to help!”

The creature’s ears flattened and he pointed at Dipper, his finger not even an inch from his nose. “Fine! You can pull this off me and wrap my leg. But if you do _anything_ fishy, I won’t hesitate to stomp you to death. I’m pretty heavy, I can crush your ribs.”

Somehow the threat came across pretty empty to Dipper, but he moved slowly anyway. As soon as the blond laid back down, Dipper gingerly set his bag down and again rummaged through it to find the little first aid kit he rarely left home without.

“I’m going to have to pry it off, it might hurt.” He made eye contact with the beast and tried his best not to stare at his features. Despite seeing how real he was, the beast still felt fake. Dipper was pretty sure he was in some form of shock, or he was just handling it better than he thought he would. Or, maybe he hit his head when he fell and just happened to have a vivid imagination.

“Hello? Are you going to help me or not? I realize you’ve probably never seen anything this pretty, but you don’t have to stare.” An arrogance in his voice showed that he _liked_ the staring. Dipper could use that to win his favor.

“Sorry, you really are amazing.” He took a deep breath and positioned himself over the trap. “You ready?”

The blond shrugged and gulped. His nervousness was clear, but he still tried to seem cool and collected.

Dipper did his best to pry the trap off. He wasn’t exactly a strong man, so it took quite a bit for him to finally open the jaws. The thing that scared him the most was accidentally letting it snap shut again after only opening it a little bit. He was able to avoid doing that, but he almost felt like he _had_ done it by the way the blond was scowling and flinching.

“It’s off,” the brunet laughed when he chucked the device away from them.

The creature had his eyes clenched shut and he was breathing heavily through his nose. “Fine, fine, just wrap it up now!”

Very carefully, as if he knew what he was doing, Dipper lifted the injured leg and examined it. Only one of the teeth on the trap had dug into him and no bones seemed to be broken.

“I’m going to clean it out, okay? This part might hurt too.”

“It doesn’t hurt,” the creature snapped. “I’m fine. Just get it over with.”

Dipper shrugged and started cleaning and covering the wound. The smell of blood was making him a bit woozy since gore grossed him out, but he kept going despite how much of it got on his hands.

“S-so, what’s your name?” Might as well try and bond with the blond. Even though the situation had a tense, awkward feeling to it, he figured he’d try.

“I want to know yours first,” the creature demanded.

“People call me Dipper,” the brunet sighed. He had started to wrap the wound and flinched back almost every time the creature did.

“Dipper?” it snorted. “That’s a silly name.” He huffed and leaned closer to watch Dipper work. His large blue eyes were filled with curiosity and his ears were perked in interest even though he still seemed pretty upset that he needed help.

“Yeah? Well, what’s your name?” He finished wrapping the leg and scooted back so that the cervitaur could move if it wanted to.

The blond hoisted himself up and tried to stand on all four legs again, that time not hidding his wincing. “Bill. You get to call me Bill,” he said between his clenched teeth.

Dipper made a weak attempt at covering his laugh. It started as a small chuckle and turned into him nearly rolling onto his side. Not only was this big, mythical creature stubborn and kind of an asshole, but his name was _Bill._

“Oh, I’m sorry, is Bill not amazing enough for you?” Bill leaned against a tree and crossed his arms in a huff. “Fine, if you’re going to be rude, I’m leaving. Have fun finding your way out of the magical part of the forest.” His ears flattened again and Bill started to stomp off, doing all that he could to hide his limp.

“W-wait, I’m sorry,” Dipper choked out through his laughter. “What d-do you mean ‘magical part of the forest’? Are we somewhere new?” He stood and brushed himself off, cursing the trees for shedding so many pokey things that stuck to his hands and pants.

Bill stopped and rolled his eyes. “You came this far into the forest and don’t even know where the barrier starts?”

“Barrier?” Dipper looked around, that time really trying to see if anything looked or felt different. The trees were the same brown and green, the sky the same blue, and the ground was, well, the ground. The only thing that looked magical in any way was Bill, who's golden fur still glowed in the sun, even though very little light was reaching them through the branches.

“What the Hell are you even doing this deep in the forest? You’re not hunting…” Bill stepped closer until he was towering over Dipper. He sniffed him a few times and even touched his clothes as if their material would somehow help him determine Dipper’s purpose.

“I’m a student,” he explained. “I’m studying Gravity Falls - specifically these woods - for my final.” He grabbed his backpack and sifted through it until he found his notebook that was filled to the brim with doodles and notes he had taken already. “I want to find out all that I can about this pl-”

“Wow,” Bill said sarcastically. “That’s very fascinating. You should go do that somewhere else now. I can make it home from here.” Again he began pulling himself along, not even offering a goodbye.

It took Dipper a solid minute before it registered in his head that he was lost. He had no way of determining where they had walked to, and he was certain that he had strayed far enough from his path that he wouldn’t be able to just find it again.

“H-hey, wait!” He stumbled after Bill, accidentally touching his flank when he caught up. “S-sorry, but I’m lost. Can’t you help me at least find the right direction I need to go in?”

Bill quickly moved away from Dipper and sneered at him. “Why should I help you?”

Dipper pointed at the leg that Bill still wasn’t able to put any weight on. “I helped you. Even though you’re supposed to do things and not expect things in return, _you_ can still be decent and at least point me towards home.”

The blond tilted his head, his large horns nearly getting caught by a branch. “Mm, nah, you’re a smart _student,_ you’ll figure it out. Besides, the more you roam this place the more you’ll learn about it.” He snickered and lowered his top half a little closer to Dipper. “If you survive.”

A chill went up Dipper’s spine but he knew all too well how to counter the sassy cervitaur’s threat. He wasn’t going to be winning this thing’s favor with it, but honestly, he just wanted to make sure he had a way back home. Being alive was better than being famous.

“Oh, wow, that sounds scary. I guess if I can’t go home I’d better just stay by someone who knows what they’re doing. I should probably just stick with you.” He raised his eyebrows and challenged Bill to try and shake him off.

Bill grumbled something under his breath before he said, “Are you trying to, what, bargain with me? ‘Point me to home and I’ll leave you alone’?” His mouth twitched and it almost looked like a smile might be tugging at his lips.

“Maybe. I _did_ just help you out quite a bit. Most people would’ve run away screaming or just left you.” Dipper didn’t like that he had to play this card. It would probably push Bill away from him more than anything, but he had to try. He just had to remind himself that making it out of the woods alive was better than being famous. At least, for now, anyway.

Besides, who said this had to be the last time he wondered out here?

The creature laughed and his eyes held something other than spite. “Most people do what you did and just _stare._ I’m a magical being with stunning looks and grace-”

“Yeah, the kind of grace that gets your foot- er, hoof stuck in a bear trap. To be honest, all I’ve seen of you so far is a stubborn buck that has too much pride to ask for help.” He crossed his arms and continued to stare Bill down. He wasn’t going to take this much back-sass from someone he had just helped. “Maybe if you’d acted like I expected you too, this could’ve gone differently and I would be out of your fur already.”

“Oh?” Bill copied Dipper’s stance and huffed. “And what exactly did you expect?”

Dipper shrugged. “I don’t know, riddles or something? Something other than a brat.”

Clearly fed up with Dipper, the cervitaur grinned a little too wide for comfort and laughed. “Y’know what? I like you. You want a riddle? Fine. You getting out of here alive will depend on one.”

Great. Dipper might’ve pushed a little too far. How was he supposed to know this guy was so touchy, though? He thought the thing might admire Dipper having a backbone, but now he was thinking that he was wrong.

“I’m always running but here I’m rarely fast. If you follow me I’ll reveal multiple paths. Listen to my voice and watch your head, if you fall with me you’ll be dead.”

“That’s it?” Dipper titled his head to the side and raised a brow at Bill. That riddle was so _easy,_ why had he given him something so easy?

“That’s it,” Bill nodded. “There’s a lot I left out, but that’s pointing you in the right direction.” He looked down at his leg then back up at Dipper. “If I ever see you around again, I’ll give you a harder one.”

Was that an invitation? Dipper honestly couldn’t tell, Bill was so hard to read. It was like he was both really annoyed but also intrigued by Dipper.

“Well, kid, it’s been fun. Okay, not really, but you leaving will be. Have fun with your stupid book!” Bill waved then pranced off further into the trees, obviously minding how much it probably hurt to run on his back leg.

Dipper shook his head and laughed. He hadn’t gotten a picture of Bill or even learned a single thing about him other than his name, but he was certain then that he was invited - in a really roundabout way - to come back. Even if he hadn’t been invited, he was still going to find his way back. Solving a harder riddle actually sounded fun, and he didn’t mind the banter, as stubborn as Bill was.

While he followed the river back to a place he recognized, Dipper mentally mapped out where he had come from as well as marked it on his physical map. If anything, he was going to come back to get a picture. Whether it was for his field journal or for proof to himself that Bill actually was real and that he hadn’t just hit his head and helped a wild animal and imagined that it spoke to him, Dipper wasn’t sure. Either answer worked, though, because regardless he was going to come back.

**Author's Note:**

> Idk how to do closed ends for one shots, it's a problem Dx
> 
> Hope you guys liked it! It was a lot of fun to do ^-^ Comments and kudos are always appreciated!
> 
> PS, Follow me on Tumblr ((same username as this one)) for writing updates if you want! I'm close to another followers contest, so get in on that while you can! <3


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